Page 1409 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

loudly: ‘A ballot! Put it to the vote! No need for more
talking!’ Then several voices began to talk all at once, and
the tall nobleman with the ring, getting more and more
exasperated, shouted more and more loudly. But it was

impossible to make out what he said.
He was shouting for the very course Sergey Ivanovitch
had proposed; but it was evident that he hated him and all
his party, and this feeling of hatred spread through the
whole party and roused in opposition to it the same
vindictiveness, though in a more seemly form, on the
other side. Shouts were raised, and for a moment all was
confusion, so that the marshal of the province had to call
for order.
‘A ballot! A ballot! Every nobleman sees it! We shed
our blood for our country!... The confidence of the
monarch.... No checking the accounts of the marshal; he’s
not a cashier.... But that’s not the point.... Votes, please!
Beastly!...’ shouted furious and violent voices on all sides.
Looks and faces were even more violent and furious than
their words. They expressed the most implacable hatred.
Levin did not in the least understand what was the matter,
and he marveled at the passion with which it was disputed
whether or not the decision about Flerov should be put to
the vote. He forgot, as Sergey Ivanovitch explained to him

1408 of 1759